Educational Science

This year's flu shots are a 'very good match' to circulating strains, health officials say

This year's flu shots appear to be a very good match to the circulating influenza strains, health officials say. However, even though flu season got off to an unusually early start, vaccination rates, especially among adults, are lagging those seen this time last year. I can tell you firsthand: This...

FDA approved a 1st-of-its-kind treatment made from human poop. What does it do?

For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a treatment that's made using donated human poop, the agency announced Wednesday (Nov. 30). The treatment, called Rebyota, contains gut bacteria collected from the stool of healthy human donors and is approved for the prevention of a potentially...

Antidepressants may drive bacteria to develop resistance against antibiotics, despite being a completely different class of drugs, a new study finds. Even after a few days exposure, bacteria develop drug resistance, not only against one but multiple antibiotics, Jianhua Guo, the study's senior author and a professor at the University...

Pfizer is using AI to help revolutionize the development of life-saving medications

The past hundred years have brought astonishing medical advancements. The ability to edit genes, build life-saving machines and create vaccines that help prevent or stop diseases in their tracks were previously unfathomable, but are realities of today. And excitingly, both scientific methods and the pace at which life-saving medical breakthroughs...

Shingles infection causes man's bladder to burst in rare case

A man who developed a shingles infection around the base of his spine suffered from an unusual complication: His bladder ruptured. According to a report of the case, published earlier this year in the journal Infection and Drug Resistance, the 77-year-old patient had been taking antiviral and pain-relieving medications for...

Dangerous strep infection surging in the UK may be spreading in US

As U.K. health officials grapple with an ongoing surge of invasive strep infections in children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating whether U.S. children are experiencing a similar uptick in infections. According to the agency's website, CDC is looking into a possible increase in invasive group...

Céline Dion's muscle spasms caused by rare disorder: What is stiff-person syndrome?

Singer Céline Dion was recently diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome, which has caused her to experience severe muscle spasms, the iconic performer announced Dec. 8 in an Instagram video. We now know this is what's been causing all of the spasms that I've been having, Dion...

New 'concerning' strain of drug-resistant gonorrhea found in U.S. for 1st time

A strain of gonorrhea that's resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics recently infected two people in Massachusetts, the state's Department of Public Health announced Thursday (Jan. 19). This is the first time that resistance or reduced response to five classes of antibiotics has been identified in gonorrhea in the United...

Woman gets rare case of 'toxic squash syndrome' after drinking bitter gourd juice

Minutes after drinking a bitter juice made from a pureed gourd, a woman went into shock, a life-threatening condition where blood flow in the body plummets and organs can be injured from lack of oxygen. She told emergency room doctors that she'd consumed the same type of gourd daily for...

A man went to the doctor about a cough. It turns out, he had a 6-inch mass in his chest.

An otherwise healthy man developed a worrisome cough that persisted for three weeks without any other symptoms. It turns out, the cough was triggered by a nearly 7-inch-long (17.2 centimeters) mass pushing against his right lung. According to a description of the case, published Oct. 30 in the Journal of...